Month: December 2007

In May 2005 Sri Chinmoy visited Milan and Torino where he gave three public meditation concerts. Seekers from all over Europe came to see the master playing on various Eastern and Western musical instruments. At the same time the new “Soul and Fitness Institute” in Milan awarded Sri Chinmoy “Universal Amabassador of Peace between the people and the souls”, along with two other spiritual dignitaries. It was a moving experience for me to see Sri Chinmoy being recognized for what he did for the cause of peace over many years. I also took a video that is available on Sri Chinmoy.tv.

In the summer of 2006 I made a trip to Japan. It was not my first. The Japanese country, their people and their culture fascinate me for a long time. I had the chance to travel to Japan together with my spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy several times and each journey was very special and very inspiring.

When I had my first encounter with Japan in 1992 Sri Chinmoy was planting a tree in the garden of the famous Daibutsu Buddha sculpture in Kamakura, not far from Toyko. Kamakura was the former capital of Japan and is full of buddhist temples and shrines. The big bronzen Daibutsu sculpture is more than 700 years old and is the most accurate embodiment of the great Buddha. For me personally it is a very familiar feeling to be near this monument. Perhaps I had some connection with Buddha in a previous incarnation.

It was therefore with great pleasure that I returned to Kamakura in July of 2006 for a whole week. Three times I visited the immense Buddha, once to take some still shots, a second time to get some good video footage and a third time to assist and film a unique concert of Sri Chinmoy just in front of the sculpture. To have a great master of the past and a great master of the present in the form of Sri Chinmoy together was an experience I will never forget. Sri Chinmoy played several of his classical instruments as well as very modern ones like a Gong sampler, specially built by two of his German students. For me it’s always amazing to witness Maestro Sri Chinmoy improvising on the synthesizer, the piano or the pipe organ because the power and dynamism of the these performances cannot be compared with any other musician.

When I was reading the immense numbers of tributes to the life of Sri Chinmoy, some thoughts came into my mind concerning the role this contemporary and modern spiritual master had, and what kind of impact he continues to have on humanity. People who only captured the outer achievements – and there were many – saw only one aspect of Sri Chinmoy’s life: the aspect of the “outer Guru”. He gave 777 concerts, he composed thousands of songs, he wrote 1600 books, he painted 150,000 paintings, he lifted elephants and airplanes, and that is not all. The general public may interpret these feats as a striving for records and numbers. But what is lacking in several articles being published after passing on October 11, 2007, is the understanding of what was behind this great number of achievements.The outer Guru was active, very active. In his youth he was a most gifted athlete. He was among the first in sports activities at the ashram in Bengal where he spent his early years, before coming to the West in 1964. At the same time he translated texts, gave great importance to his spiritual life and started to write his first poems. At the age of 12 he also attained a high state of consciousness: God-realisation. From there his activities and manifestations of the divine goal became his top priorities.

Sri Chinmoy’s days were filled to the brim. Only spending a couple of hours asleep, he was a real fountain of creativity. And here we start to understand why he was so active for the whole span of his 76 years on earth. He had a mission that he got directly from God: to manifest divine light and peace on earth, and recruit crying souls who are eager to make progress: People who want to direct their lives more intensively to spirituality and who are attracted to his path, which is the path of the heart.Unfortunalety not all obituaries gave enough credit to the essence of the “inner Guru”. This Guru, who was meditating day and night, almost 24 hours. This Guru, who was always in a meditative state – when he spoke with luminaries of this world, when he met politicians and heads of states, when he spoke to his own disciples. This state of continuous meditation and contemplation was unique. We can only guess what was happening inside him. And this part was the important one, not the outer achievements. These were vital only to capture the attention of our minds. The real inner work Sri Chinmoy did for the betterment of this world will be remembered for ages to come.

If we only partially understand the “inner Guru”, we realize that all the outer achievements also had their role, and now – as he is no more longer outwardly alive – his spirit will continue to live through these manifestaions of the divine: his poems, his mantras, his songs, his talks, his creative works. It is so inspiring to realize that we – as his students, his followers, his readers – now can and should do our homework: browsing his large body of creative output and teachings, to continue his mission of spreading peace and goodwill to the people around us.

I am happy and sad. I am happy to have spent half of my life with the spiritual guidance, light and inspiration of a great master-soul. I am sad that he entered into Mahasamadhi on my birthday, October 11, and that he couldn’t get this year’s Nobel Price for Peace, for which he had been nominated by countless prominent figures from around the world.

When I attended a lecture by one of Sri Chinmoy’s students on October 27, 1978 together with my wife, I could not imagine, what impact this first contact would bring into my life. I can only witness that my relationship with Sri Chinmoy became stronger and deeper from year to year. Not only got my life a new and true meaning, I could watch myself being drenched with the infinite bliss of a great spiritual Master who brings humanity a big step forward towards infinite light – a goal, that seems to be very distant in current times, but inevitably will become reality in the distant future.

I am happy and I am sad. I am happy and full of deepest gratitude for all I could learn, experience and change to the better in my life. I am sad to have lost the outer being of Sri Chinmoy on October 11, 2007, when the message of his passing struck me and all his many thousands of students worldwide like a thunderbolt. After seeing him for a last time on his beloved tennis court area in Queens, NY, that he affectionately called “Aspiration-Ground”, my sorrow was immense. Then I remembered his last poem, that he released in book form the night before his passing:

My physical death Is not the end of my life – I am an eternal journey.

The journey goes on, and more than ever I will continue to transform my human weaknesses and strive for melting with his light that he so powerfully manifested through his 76 years on earth. I am sure that I will not be the only one who will try to multiply the accumulated inspiration, that Sri Chinmoy offered us all the years. I deeply hope that his goals to help this world to become a better and more peaceful place, will become reality before it is too late. Watch my continuous video and photo contributions on www.srichinmoy.tv and Sri Chinmoy Centre Galleries. – Kedar Misani